


To Learn and Love

by alphatoothless



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: A!RF, Alternate Universe - Reverse Falls, Fluff, M/M, admission of feelings, developing feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 08:57:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10896015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphatoothless/pseuds/alphatoothless
Summary: Will had always believed in soulmates and love. He was one of the only demons who did, and when he finds the human that he believes is his other half, he strikes up a deal. Or, in other words, the moment Will learns about humans and the strange concept of love.





	To Learn and Love

Will loved the morning sun. He loved the forest, with its wildflowers and tall, beautiful redwood trees. He loved the sounds of birds chirping excitedly in the morning. In the mornings he would walk outside, marveling at the dew that lightly covered the grass in the yard. Nature was something that he didn't really have in his dimension, replaced with swirling dark matter and a very different light spectrum to determine the change in time. Here, on Earth, he was met with unmatched beauty. 

Nature wasn't the only thing that made Will happy. The humans that roamed the earth also caught his attention. How they worked to change nature, creating things out of seemingly nothing and discovering things that were beyond expected of animals in this galaxy. Will enjoyed watching them advance and improve through the decades, changing their societal standards, their technology, and even themselves. Some enjoyed their old ways, others embraced the new changes. 

However, if you were to ask William what his favorite thing in this galaxy was, he would smile and answer without a moment to think: Dipper Gleeful. 

When asked why, he would say that Dipper was his favorite thing of all galaxies. Will was a hopeless romantic, a believer of soulmates and love at first sight, so the moment he'd locked eyes with the human he'd become immediately infatuated. Coming to learn more about the human only secured this belief of his, to a point where he would follow the human around religiously. What truly secured the emotion stemmed from Dipper's ability to capture him and enslave him, as his twin had suggested when Will had revealed himself, but Dipper had waved the thought off and instead agreed to a deal. 

In exchange for knowledge, Dipper would fall in love with Will. 

Now, Will couldn't manipulate Dipper's feelings. He could enter his mind and he could read his thoughts, look through memories, understand the basis of Dipper's emotions, but he couldn't change them. Will would find out later that Dipper knew this all along from a journal he'd kept, but the human had accepted the deal anyway. 

Will had come to understand that humans had a hard time romantically loving something that didn't remotely look like them. In his geometric form, the human could possibly hold him and hug him awkwardly, but the possibility of experiencing true love was difficult. So, he crafted his own human vessel. It took days of researching human anatomy and peeking at individuals of the town in their private moments (he does regret this, but it was for research). When it was finally finished and he was exhausted from the excessive amounts of magic used, he entered the vessel and got to work on maneuvering. 

Dipper was the one who helped him the most when it came to learning how to control the vessel. The human clothed him and helped him slowly learn how to walk, scolding him lightly when he tripped over branches or stumbled into a wall. Mabel had eventually come around to teach him other things like how to brush his teeth and how to tame his unruly hair. It took weeks of trial and error, of accidentally bruising himself on walls and frustrated crying before Will finally adjusted to the new vessel completely. 

The elder Gleeful twins made room for him in the manor, though it didn't take much work for them to do so. An empty room was soon filled with furniture and Will's otherworldly belongings soon after. He'd made a deal with Stanley, the scruffier one of the two, to clean while he stayed with them. He didn't mind it at all, as it gave him a reason to be close to the young master of the manor. 

However, even with this raging belief in soulmates, Will learned that Dipper had his flaws as well. He was a human, after all. Dipper's patience wore thin fairly quickly, often resulting in the human snapping and storming off when Will couldn't understand something the third time of him explaining it. Dipper also had strange habits, like taking long showers or having certain periods of time designated to being completely alone in his room. Will would sometimes peek in with his magic and see the boy curled up in his bed with a book and plenty of blankets engulfing him. Yes, Dipper was an odd human, but it made Will love him even more. 

His master also had strange behaviors when it came to other humans as well. Will would walk alongside Dipper, subtly analyzing the boy's expressions. The human would force smiles for people, though it was always mistaken as genuine by anyone it was directed to. It was sickeningly sweet and so unlike the human, but Will would watch curiously as Dipper's voice would shift when he spoke to townspeople. Dipper would smile with his teeth, would compliment sweetly and wink at people playfully, but Will knew better than anyone that Dipper hated doing so. He savored in the knowledge that Dipper trusted him enough to show him his true self. 

The strangest behaviors came when two other humans of the same age would cross their path. One was a female, with soft-looking blonde hair and a optimistic grin and the other was a white-haired boy with an anxious frown and suspicious glances. Dipper would always say something to entice a reaction out of the girl, breaking his usually fake smile to taunt her and her companion. Will didn't understand this. Dipper would smirk and use his magic, something he usually didn't do around the townspeople save for during their shows, to harass the girl in particular. So, Will would just watch beside Dipper as the girl, Pacifica, would storm forward and lecture his master as if she were something like a quarreling lover. It always made Will uneasy watching the interactions, mainly because he couldn't understand their implications. Pacifica would always be inches from Dipper's face when she yelled and Dipper would always smirk at her with folded arms. 

He found he didn't really like their interactions very much. Gideon, the white-haired human, also seemed uneasy watching the way they would get close, so he would often be the one to interject. It isn't until one night when Will reads his master's mind that he finds relief in the fact that Dipper holds no actual feelings for the girl. Instead, Dipper thinks of her as a humorously easy target to mock and rile up. Will often wonders what makes her so different. 

With Will, Dipper is reserved. He doesn't put up a fake front, but Will wishes Dipper would pay attention to him like he does Pacifica. Their interactions are limited to Will teaching Dipper how to harness and use his magic or on the expansive knowledge of the universe. He secretly wishes Dipper would tease him, too. 

Mabel is the first one to catch onto Will's feelings. She corners him at one point while he's walking down the hallway in a pout over Dipper's lack of teasing behavior toward him. She questions him constantly until he finally breaks and tells the truth that yes, he's in love with Dipper and yes, he's always been in love with him. He finds that Mabel realizes it when she saw the way Will looked at Dipper one night. She tells him she'll help him win over her brother, but Will has never been entirely trusting of the female twin. His devotion remained with Dipper wholeheartedly, so trusting others was always met with hesitance. 

To his luck, Mabel didn't do anything at first. He was allowed to continue to watch Dipper peacefully, enjoying the way the young master would flip through books or sip tea in that elegant manner. Sometimes, if he was lucky, Dipper would even watch him cook. Those were his favorite moments, when cyan eyes watched his every movement. He loved being the subject of Dipper's attention more than anything in the entire universe. 

However, things shifted dramatically the day he hears Mabel talking to Dipper in a hushed manner. He changes into his original form to hide easier as he fades into the walls to listen carefully. At first, it's hard to hear, but he catches onto the words quickly once he realizes what they're talking about. 

"That's impossible, Mabel. It was just a hoax." 

"No, he admitted it to me the other day."

"He's a demon, he doesn't have those kinds of feelings."

"He does, brother. Don't tell me you haven't seen the way he looks at you? Or even the way he follows you everywhere?"

He stared at her in silence.

"He may be your servant, but even you have to have noticed."

When Mabel told Will she'd help him, he didn't take the possibility of her telling Dipper his feelings completely. He watches Dipper's expression carefully, referring back to his previous observations of the human's behavior. He doesn't understand this expression but Mabel seems to. She just smiles and pats him on the shoulder before leaving him behind. Dipper just stared after her with an unreadable expression before finally walking out of the room as well. Will fazed out of the wall, returning to his human form. 

After that, Dipper avoided him completely. If he walked into the room, Dipper would walk the other way. If Will brought him his usual tea and baked goods, Dipper wouldn't ask him to stick around. It confused Will, because Dipper had made the deal with him all those months ago without question. It slowly dawned on him that the human had taken it as a joke of sorts or a misunderstanding of vocabulary when he thought back to his eavesdropping of the conversation and that had made his chest hurt and his face flush with humiliation. Mabel had come to him a few days after Dipper's constant avoidance of him to assure him it was all fine. He doubted her words, but he had no other option except to trust her. 

So days stretched to a week, but avoidance slowly turned into Dipper's constant observations of him. While he usually loved being the center of the human's attention, this made him feel uneasy. If Dipper had misunderstood their deal, what else would he interpret incorrectly? Everywhere he went, cyan eyes would watch his every move. It got to a point where their roles were reversed, and Will avoided Dipper whenever he could. At one point, Will had even told Stanley he'd be gone for a few days to take a break in the Mindscape. Stanley had waved him off and he relaxed in the protected space of his own world. The shades of black and white comforted him, though it was nowhere near as beautiful as the colors of the forest he'd become so accustomed to. 

He stayed in the Mindscape for quite some time. He manipulated the environment a few times, had crafted buildings that towered into the sky, had forged shadowed animals, and had created shadows reminiscent of trees. He crafted and destroyed continuously out of boredom, unsure of if he should return to the place he'd come to call home. It's not until the fourth day that he finally succumbs to doing so, missing the beautiful colors of the forest and even the sight of his master. When he returned, he plopped onto his bed in his room and sighed. Within minutes he heard knocking on the door and he turned to look at it curiously. He decided to remain still and put off the inevitable. 

"William, I know you're home."

His eyebrows furrowed as Dipper's voice rings through the silence. He doesn't move. 

"Open the door."

He weighed his options. He could go back to the Mindscape, could escape the fact that Dipper probably held no feelings for him and that his belief in soulmates and romance had been horribly wrong, he could stay on the bed and pretend he wasn't home to possibly call out the human's bluff of knowing he's home, or he could get up and answer the door. He settled for remaining still. 

Silence rested between them, and for a moment Will thinks Dipper actually left. It isn't until the lock clicks and the door opens that he stares wide-eyed at the boy standing in the doorway. His mouth falls open, wondering how Dipper had learned to pick locks with his magic briefly before the human narrows his eyes at him. 

"We had a deal."

"D-Deal?"

"You left for four days. That's four days that you didn't keep up your end of the deal."

"W-What deal?"

Dipper closed the door behind him with magic as he walks forward. He's standing in front of Will, glaring down at him. He trembles as the spell of returning to the Mindscape lingers in his mind. He swallows thickly as the human's eyes pierce into him.

"In exchange for falling in love with you, you would teach me everything you know."

Will stared up at Dipper in confusion. The human had taken it as a prank, so why was he bringing it up now? The human just stares down at him, expecting something, but Will isn't sure what. After a few beats, Dipper rolls his eyes and sighs in frustration before suddenly leaning forward and crashing lips into his own. Will's eyes widen further as hands grip the sides of his face and hold him into the kiss. His heart just about pounds out of his chest as Dipper pulls away, glaring down at him as Will stares back at him in shock. 

"You owe me four days." 

Will swallows and nods before his eyes flicker down to look at Dipper's lips. Breathing is difficult and his skin tingles where the human touched him. Dipper smirks that playful smirk he usually directed at Pacifica before leaning in to kiss him again. Will feels dizzy and his head is swimming as Dipper pulls away a second time. He stares up at the human dreamily, feeling a goofy grin spread across his lips. He doesn't know what to say or do, but he does know he wants the human to keep kissing him. This sensation is unlike the pain he felt when he bruised himself when learning to walk. It wasn't like the warmth he felt when he curled into blankets. 

It was an incredible feeling, an intoxicating feeling, and Will never wanted it to end.


End file.
